My experience in University Hospital Zurich - neurosurgery department

Seeing other ways of how to practice your profession is a very useful thing.
Although many  doctors in  Zurich university hospital did not understand why i am coming for a week observer-ship, i bet even some think it is  stupid although none said so, but comparing between what i have seen always in our  hospital and what I've seen here was quite a useful experience for me.

I got to know why this is one of the best departments of neurosurgery,  the secret is simple but also difficult to achieve. lets see what i have learned through my week here ;

1- Time Concept : Everyone without exception respect the time , patients and medical team altogether, the day is divided in  a way that you don't leave a space for lost time , from 7:30 am to  17:30 every job is known , each mission is precised.

2- Team work : in order to be effective as  they  are here you have to be an element of a team that all  move together as one movement and trust each other, multi-specialty meeting to  discuss everything that matters. Also i had the  chance to see the Trauma team in one of the emergency  cases , and i know it may  seem  common sense but  i  was amazed how fast and organized the whole team was, everyone knew what to do and when to do it , the  process of saving a patient life and primary assessment was one of the  shortest that i ever saw in my life. Although i was a part of the catastrophe unit in an organization.

3- Means :  well i have to mention that money can bring happiness , having all the means under your hand change completely the medical practice efficiency , instead of wasting your time finding a spot for ur  patient to do a CT scan or an MRI, here everything pass smoothly. from the available elevators  to the operation simulation equipment , all is there !

4- Documentation : the  thing that all European doctors are  complaining from , however , i find it  quite useful.  everything should be documented the  whole time .  This allows other team members  to know what you did with the patients and follow up afterword , it also allow to minimize the error factor and improve the failures later on.

5- Explaining to the patient :  this might have a  cultural aspect , but Swiss patients need to understand all the details of their treatment and disease , and doctors  provide this  with extreme patience and professionalism.  some doctors  stays with the patient over an hour to answer all the questions and make sure that  they are  comfortable with the treatment plan.

6- Finally , the team is  a huge mixture of nationalities , races , religions and gender , however  they  keep good  relationship between them and you can feel the positive harmony.

When i get lost !

Fatin Nabil Photography - Berlin

you know when u r lost in the street and you ask someone about the road , then that person leaves what he/she was doing walks with you and makes sure you got the way right ? 
i keep meeting these people all over the world , different shapes, races, tongs and religions , they always help with a smile for nothing in return ! these people are those who make our world a better place !

I get lost a lot , not  because i am bad in directions but because i  move to new  places  frequently, i change cities where i work/study , i travel much and i keep exploring where i live.  This is why i always get lost ! and whenever i am looking around me there will be i find someone . 

i would like to mention here two  wonderful stories :  The first was in Chefchaouen the Moroccan blue  wonderful city  i was leaving the coffee when i asked the waiter about a specific spot , he  told me his  shift was  over and he can walk me there ,  we walked until the fountain i was looking for , he made sure i knew the  history of the place  together  with the  nice restaurants to visit there then he left.  Next day as chefchaouen is  a small city , i met him again but he was  going with friends to hike to the Achkour waterfalls he  invited me to the hike , we  went as a  big group and since then we  became good friends , i never went back to the city again but it was one of these  times when i was grateful i got  lost !

Chefchaouen 

Second story was in Berlin , i was looking at the map , trying to  find my way in that big  city ,  a man stood next to me and did a gesture with his hand as " what " i answered that i want that specific street then he started to  make  signs and sounds  for me to figure that he can't speak but he  reads lips and he can help me :) ! and he show me the  way through the map , i went on my way walking , after like 5 minutes  i found him behind me trying to call me , one of the people in the  street told me to  turn , he was  running after me as i am a fast walker and he is an old man , he figured out he described me the wrong way and he wanted to warn me ! 


i can tell you hundreds of stories .. just to tell you  that we have good in this world , so be that person , be the one who show people the road without asking for something in return !

Bremen

Bremen is a nice small  city in the  northwest of germany.  Although it is  small but it has a long history specially in the  last century. 

The  city is calm , and even in the rush hours when everyone is trying to  catch something you  do not feel stressed at all.  People are  very simple , nice and helpful. 

The Town Musicians

 The City is  very green and full of  Gardens, flowers and  rivers. the  best time to visit is probably in summer  time, or spring if you are not allergic :). 

The main place to visit is the old city ( Altstadts) surrounded with the WESER River.  

St Peter's Cathedral (13th century)

 Transportation in Bremen is  very  easy and fast , although if u have a bike the  whole city is well adapted for bikers with special parking areas and bike-lines. However, there is  no public bike rental as the other bigger cities in Germany. If u you are staying for some days you will find shops for  bike rental all arround the city.

Bremen is a Bike friendly city 

 Bremen is  very artistic city, when u visit it , you can understand very well why the four animals wanted to  go there to  perform music ! Street musicians , Human status and lovely sculptures are everywhere around the city.

Human status

Swineherd and pigs sculpture in Bremen

If you  have time it  would eb also interesting to visit the Universum Science Center a science interactive center  with more than 250 Exhibits. 

Finally , you can get to Bremen by train or bus and also by airplane. Bremen airport receives low cost airlines .  so it is not  expensive to see Bremen !